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Russia From My House
By Chris Philips, Managing Editor
Comedienne Tina Fey, impersonating then-governor Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, said “I can see Russia from my house.” As a line, it’s a pretty good one, and got her the well-deserved laugh. As an observation on US Arctic policy, it’s not so funny.
The country’s national strategy for the Arctic includes a promise to keep the Arctic region peaceful, stable and free of conflict, but consists mostly of concerns over global warming and efforts to safeguard the world’s climate and fragile ecosystems. US policy further pledges to “…intelligently evolve our Arctic infrastructure and capabilities, including ice-capable platforms as needed.”
Those of us engaged in trade along the Pacific and Arctic coasts can certainly attest to the need to “intelligently evolve” our Arctic infrastructure, and that idea seems to have bipartisan support from our lawmakers, but so far no hard plans or funding… (More)
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